What makes clever women stick by creeps for so long?

Two long-suffering wives have finally dumped their high-profile husbands. Katie Holmes has filed for divorce from Tom Cruise, demanding sole custody of their daughter Suri.

Tom seems to relish playing dorks — in his latest film Rock Of Ages, he is Stacee Jaxx, a repulsive singer in a heavy metal band,who performs stripped to the waist, a bold move for a chap turning 50.

Sadly, the film, like his marriage, has bombed — according to this paper, it’s ‘crass when it should be comic’ — but did weirdo Tom ever have a sense of humour?

Anne Sinclair has thrown out her errant
husband, former IMF chief, Dominique
Strauss-Kahn (left) while Katie Holmes has filed for divorce from Tom Cruise

The man who leapt on a sofa on Oprah, declaring his love for Katie in 2005, has never seemed to be an earthling, more an alien dropped from outer space, striving to appear ‘normal’, but not quite succeeding.

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Plus, he’s a Scientologist — this controversial cult is coming under increasing attack from former members in the U.S. over its training and fundraising. Meanwhile, Anne Sinclair, one of France’s most successful journalists and TV presenters, has thrown out her errant husband, former head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

He was charged with attempting to rape a chambermaid in New York last year, though the case was dropped for lack of evidence. He’s on bail in France charged with conspiring with pimps to secure girls for sex parties.

David Cameron is considering changing the law to give unmarried couples more legal rights

Throughout everything, his wife has
remained loyal, claiming that feminists had no right to judge her
marriage. Now, with a new job as editor of the Huffington Post website
in France, she’s finally had enough and kicked him out.

What makes these clever women remain married for so long? Katie Holmes is bound to have signed a gagging order when she tied the knot, so we will never know, but Anne Sinclair remains a mystery. She already had fame and financial security when she married in 1991. Was DSK that good in bed?

Few women are as lucky as Katie Holmes or Anne Sinclair, who can afford top lawyers. The British legal profession earns a fortune by making separations and divorce settlements as complicated as possible. Lawyers prolong disputes to increase the fees they make from thin-skinned clients.

The divorce rate here is at its lowest for 40 years — thought to be because women are marrying later, at 30 on average. Many want to establish careers or earn a decent wage. Another reason for the drop in divorce could be the legal costs in a recession — many women are in marriages that have ended long ago.

David Cameron is considering changing the law to give unmarried couples more legal rights. I disagree: there must be one kind of legal partnership and that is marriage. But the institution urgently needs re-branding and selling to a younger generation who see it as out of date.

The courts are clogged up with couples who have never married, arguing over details such as who gets the dogs, access to the children and how property should be split.

If I had my way, there would be massive tax incentives to encourage marriage and all newlyweds would sign a legally binding document that sets out what will happen in the event of a breakdown. A marriage may not be for ever, but the parting should not be painful, whether you’re rich or poor.

My diatribe about litter in this newspaper a few weeks ago seems to have had little effect on one group of young women in Kent. On Saturday, a group of about 20 held a tropical beach party near my house, complete with inflatable palm trees and garlands of flowers.

Next day, I found they had left behind a pile of bottles, food cartons and carrier bags of rubbish. Do they imagine refuse vans patrol the pebbles? Or that I have a second job as a binman? There’s only one word for these girls — filth.

Taking the Mick

It takes a lot to upstage Jade Jagger, who loves a bit of cleavage and a very short skirt, but at the poor woman’s wedding on Saturday, her mum and dad managed it.

Jade Jagger poses with her newly married husband Adrian Fillary after their wedding at Aynhoe Park, Oxfordshire

Bianca Jagger is not a load of laughs, and I speak as someone who’s had the misfortune to meet this dyed-in-the-wool misery a few times.

Sure, she is a tireless campaigner for worthy causes, but why couldn’t she manage a smile on such a joyous day? And what about the hat and the white gloves? Was she dressed as her version of the Queen?

As for Mick, it’s best to draw a veil over a pensioner who thinks a striped pink suit is flattering. Was he planning to flog candy floss the minute the ceremony was over?

Reader Wynne Evans, who describes herself as a ‘50-something PhD’, drew my attention to an appalling film put out by the EU to encourage girls to consider science as a career. As a trustee of the Science Museum, I applaud their intentions, but the result has backfired, attracting a massive backlash.

Watch the EU film, Science — It’s A Girl Thing, and cringe as scantily clad leggy lovelies cavort in high heels to electronic music, blowing kisses at the camera, intercut with beakers and lipsticks. The response has been universal condemnation from female scientists (Dr Meghan Gray said she was ‘disappointed’), and there’s a witty parody on YouTube, which tells us ‘science is pretty, like shoes and unicorns’. An EU spokesman admits: ‘We’re not good at irony.’

Don't use lesbians to lift sales

Tatler editor Kate Reardon

Tatler is a glossy magazine aimed at the rich. It used to focus on ‘society’ — these days, that means the upwardly mobile. It’s the kind of reading material you find in the waiting rooms of swanky dentists.

Pippa Middleton is a perfect Tatler pin-up: unmarried and impeccably well-connected. So why is editor Kate Reardon gushing to anyone who will listen about the need to stick up for gay women?

The latest issue asks ‘Where are all the lesbians?’ and devotes several pages to glamorous pictures of seven high-profile women, including TV presenter and comedian Sue Perkins and writer, and environmental campaigner Tamsin Omond, arrested after scaling the roof of the Houses of Parliament to protest against a third runway at Heathrow.

Tamsin (whether you agree with her politics or not) doesn’t need much help from Tatler to raise her profile. Kate Reardon claims gay men are more accepted than their female counterparts and this Thursday, she’s hosting a dinner for 200 lesbians.

But what are her motives? Latest figures show Tatler’s circulation is flat, with a small increase of just 1.7 per cent. The National Readership survey tells a different story, recording a drop of more than 20 per cent in a year — 25 per cent in the highest social categories, which advertisers love.

I suspect Kate’s ‘lesbian ball’ is all about selling Tatler and nothing to do with gay rights. Can you imagine the fuss if there was a heterosexual-only event? Clever women, gay or straight, don’t need Tatler’s help.

Not all girls from Essex want to end up in TOWIE. Let’s applaud Georgina Blackwell, a former beautician from Colchester, who gave up her dream of studying law when her mum broke her wrist. She unselfishly chose to help out by working in the family beauty salon, and in 2009 represented her mother in court when Bellway Homes, one of Britain’s largest developers, started work on 43 houses next door.

Despite not having any formal legal qualifications, she managed to win the dispute over access and her mother was awarded £75,000 in compensation. She subsequently won a scholarship to study law at university and has just been awarded a first-class honours degree and is training to be a barrister.

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Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes divorce: What makes clever women stick by creeps for so long?